In the food industry, labels are a necessary item and are used for a variety of purposes. For example, labels are used to indicate the expiration date, use date or desired storage temperature of food products. The type and number of labels needed at a particular work area vary. The requirements will be different in different establishments, and indeed even at different work areas within the same establishment.
Labels of various kinds are sold in rolls. The labels have adhesive backings and during manufacture are placed on a lined paper. The lined paper with the adhesive-backed labels are wound on a cylindrical core, which may be made of paperboard or plastic. The rolls of labels are typically packaged in a paperboard box with one roll per box. The rolls of labels come in different widths depending upon the text of the labels.
A roll of labels dispenses easily from its box, and the adhesive-backed labels peel easily from the lined paper. However, because the boxes are not transparent, one cannot readily tell which labels are in which box or when a roll is nearing completion. Thus, a consumer frequently does not know the inventory of a particular label is low until essentially the last label has been dispensed. Further, when a number of different labels are used and each roll of labels is in its own separate box, it is cumbersome to work with numerous boxes of labels.
A container for storing and dispensing multiple rolls of labels is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,959, issued to Milliorn. This patent describes a container for storing and dispensing multiple rolls of labels. The container is a clamshell container having a generally cylindrical shape with flanges extending from a longitudinal plane. The top section is connected to the bottom section along the back edge of each. The bottom section has a plurality of semi-cylindrical compartments separated by partitions and each compartment is configured for holding a roll of labels. Each container is designed to hold a particular number of rolls of labels of particular sizes. However, the clamshell container precludes the user from being able to have a label dispenser that will accommodate a variety of sizes of rolls within a single clam shell.
A number of modular systems have also been disclosed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,131,829, issued to Masser, describes containers which may be interlocked to form a carrying case composed of a plurality of individual containers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,469,961, issued to Chang, describes minidisc boxes which may be connected with other minidisc boxes on its left, right, and bottom sides. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,288, issued to Conconi, discloses a first-half shell which may be mutually coupled to a second-half shell to form a container, which may be further coupled with engagement elements on the half-shell of an adjacent container. However, none of these modular systems would be useful for dispensing labels. They do not provide an appropriate receptacle for holding the rolls of labels; nor do they allow for easy dispensing of the labels.
It would be advantages to have a number of connected containers for storing and dispensing multiple rolls of different labels that would allow for visualization of the rolls of labels.
It would also be advantages to have a series of modular containers of varying width that can be connected in any selected arrangement of widths for accommodating a variety of labels.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the invention, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that each of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration and description only and is not intended as a definition of the limits of the present invention. The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood.